Two former Parramatta Eels players are accused of harbouring semi-automatic weapons and possessing more than half-a-million dollars in cash after dramatic arrests in Sydney's Centennial Park yesterday.

Eagles of Death Metal frontman calls for easier access to firearms in the wake of Paris attacks

Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes – who was on stage at Paris’s Bataclan theatre when ISIL militants burst in and opened fire – has called for easier access to guns, saying they could have saved lives during the November terror attacks.

Hughes and the band were mid-way through their performance on November 13 when the coordinated attacks began, leaving 130 people dead across the French capital.

A clearly emotional Hughes spoke with French media outlet iTele ahead of the Eagles of Death Metal’s gig at the Olympia venue, saying he believed that had the audience been armed the incident would have gone very differently.

“Did your French gun control policy stop a single f---ing person dying at the Bataclan? If anyone can answer yes, I’d like to hear it,” he says during the interview.

“I think the thing that stopped it was some of the bravest men I’ve ever seen in my life charging headfirst into the face of death with their firearms.”

The musician was presumably talking about French security forces, who eventually killed seven militants during the attacks and in a series of subsequent raids. France has strict gun laws, which restrict the number of firearms and amount of ammunition gun owners can own.

Hughes is a vocal supporter of the right to bear arms and has previously touted his affiliation with the National Rifle Association.